If you’re looking for something fun to play with friends, Unstable Unicorns is the perfect addition to your game night. During the game, you’ll build up a collection of cute and unique Unicorn cards, but it’s a race against other players. The rules are so simple, and we’ve got everything you need to know to get started. We’ll walk you through the setup, taking a turn, and how to win the game, including some clarifications on some confusing cards.
Unstable Unicorns Objective & Overview
Win Unstable Unicorns by being the first player to get 7 unicorns in your Stable. Take turns drawing a card, playing an action, and discarding so you always have 7 cards in your hand. Use Upgrades and Unicorn cards to get closer to winning or use Magic cards and Downgrades to slow down other players.
Steps
How to Set Up Unstable Unicorns
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Play the game with 2–8 players who are 8 and older. Unstable Unicorns plays best when you have more players because you get to use all of the cards in the deck. Because there are a lot of cards with unique powers and effects, the game might be confusing for children who are any younger than 8 years old. [1] X Research source
- If you have younger kids, try playing Unstable Unicorns for Kids with anyone 6 or older.
- Unstable Unicorn expansions add new cards to the game, but some of them may be inappropriate for children.
- If you’re looking for a more adult version of the game for players who are over 18, try out Unstable Unicorns NSFW instead.
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Give each player a Baby Unicorn and a reference card. Find the Baby Unicorn cards with a purple horn icon in the top-left corner. It doesn’t matter which Baby Unicorn card each player uses since they all have the same effect, so let everyone choose their favorite. Place the Baby Unicorn card face-up along with your reference card in front of you. [2] X Research source
- The area in front of each player is called their Stable and it’s where you play and keep cards throughout the game.
- Place the rest of the Baby Unicorn cards in a face-up stack in the middle of the table. The stack is known as the Nursery .
- If you’re playing with 2 players , find the “Neigh” cards with a red exclamation point in the top-left corner, and give one to each player.
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Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards to each player. Take all of the cards with the black backs and shuffle them until they’re thoroughly mixed. Then, deal cards to all of the players face-down. Each player can look at their own hand of cards, but keep them secret from everyone else. Set the rest of the cards face-down in the middle of the table to create the deck . [3] X Research source
- Leave a little space next to the deck so you have room for a discard pile as well.
- If you’re playing with 2 players
, remove the following cards from the game before shuffling the deck: [4]
X
Research source
- All Basic Unicorns
- Queen Bee Unicorn
- Seductive Unicorn
- Rainbow Unicorn
- Mother Goose Unicorn
- Necromancer Unicorn
- Nanny Cam
- Sadistic Ritual
- Slowdown
- Yay!
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Choose whoever is wearing the most colors as the first player. The person who’s dressed the most colorful is considered the “most unicorn-like,” so they get to go first. Alternatively, just choose a starting player randomly or have the youngest player take the first turn. [5] X Research source
How to Play a Turn in Unstable Unicorns
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Activate beginning-of-turn effects on cards in the Stable. If it’s the first turn of the game, there are no cards to activate yet. When a played card has the phrase, “If this card is in your Stable at the beginning of your turn…” then perform the effects listed on the card. [6] X Research source
- An effect might be playing a Unicorn from your hand, drawing extra cards, or stealing cards from another player.
- Card effects that have the word “may” are optional. Otherwise, the effect is mandatory.
- If you have multiple cards with abilities that trigger at the beginning of your turn, their effects happen all at the same time and you can choose the order to do them. If a card tells you to end your turn after activating it, you can still use the effects from other cards in your Stable.
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Draw a card from the deck. Take the top card of the deck and simply add it to your hand. Keep it hidden from the other players so they can’t see what you’re holding. [7] X Research source
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Take one action of the 5 available actions. Players only get 1 action per turn, however playing some cards may give you additional effects or actions. We’ll cover the card types and their effects later, but choose one of the following actions to take: [8] X Research source
- Play a purple, blue, or indigo Unicorn card
- Play a green Magic card
- Play a yellow Downgrade card
- Play an orange Upgrade card
- Draw a card from the deck
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Discard down to 7 cards in your hand. On your first turn, you won’t have to discard. As you play more rounds, you’ll gain more cards but can never end your turn with more than 7 in your hand. Choose the cards you don’t want to keep and set them face-up next to the deck in a discard pile. [9] X Research source
- After finishing a turn, the next player to the left takes their turn and play continues clockwise around the table.
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
References
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/1/homepage/2-Player-rules.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://www.geekyhobbies.com/unstable-unicorns-card-game-review-and-rules/
- ↑ https://www.geekyhobbies.com/unstable-unicorns-card-game-review-and-rules/
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/1/homepage/NSFW-Rules.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://12ax7web.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2/homepage/UU_New-Rules_v1.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf
- ↑ https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/e1/26/55-unstable-unicorns-rulebook.pdf